Regulator for hot-water heating systems.



G, W. YOUNG.

REGULATOR FOR HOT WATER HEATING SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.26, 1912. I

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.CHARLES W. YOUNG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

REGULATOR FOR HOT-WATER HEATING- SYSTEMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 21, 1914.

Application filed October 26, 1912. Serial 1V0. 727,874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. YOUNG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in" the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Regulators for Hot- Water Heating Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to devices or apparatus for regulating and controlling a hot water heating system such as commonly used forheating houses or other buildings.

The objects of this invention are to provide means whereby the fire in the heater is regulated by means of the pressure in the heating system; to provide means whereby the pressure in the system may be increased above atmospheric pressure if desired; to provide means whereby the expansion of the water in the system will cause the air in the expansion tank to operate levers or other devices for opening and closing the furnace dampers; and to provide such other novel features and advantages as will appear from the following description.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating my invention; Figure 1 is an elevation showing a' hotwater heating system provided with my improved apparatus, parts being shown diagrammatically or broken away for convenience in illustration; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the device used for operating the fire doors and dampers or other fire controlling devices with the signal apparatus shown diagrammatically; and, Fig. 3 is a plan view of the a paratus shown in Fig. 2.

lIy improved system may be used-with any of the various types of hot water heating systems and the one shown in these drawings is used merely to indicate the method of attachment or arrangement.

In these drawings, 1 indicates a heater or boiler which is connected by means of the riser 5 with the radiators 6 and 7 arranged on the different floors of the building. These radiators are connected with a return pipe 8, this pipe also extendingupwardly and connecting with the expansion tank 9. This tank and the arrangement thus far described is of any usual or preferred form of construction, the tank 9, being preferably provided with a gage glass 10 for convenience in determining the hei ht of the water therein. This tank is pre erwith a lever 15.

ably about half full of water under normal conditions and when the water in the sysstem expands, the height of the water in the tank will rise, thereby tending to force the air outof the upper part .of the tank. In accordance with my invention, I take advantage of this compression of the air to operate suitable mechanism for automatically regulating the fire. In order to do this I connect a pipe 11 with the upper part of the tank 9 and lead this pipe to the lower end of a cylinder 12, which cylinder is pref erably located adjacent to the boiler and can be supported in any desired manner. Within the cylinder 12 is a piston 13 which is connected by means of a piston rod 14, The lever 15 is pivoted at 16 to an arm or bracket 17 which extends upwardly from a cap 18 which fits over the top of the cylinder 12 and which may be secured in any 'desired position by means of the set screw 19; I also provide a guide .20 on the opposite side of the cap 18 which serves to guide the lever 15 as it moves up and down. The piston rod 14. may

be pivoted directly to the lever 15 as indicated in Fig. 1, in which case the movement of the lever would always correspond to the movement of the piston. However, in many instances it may be desirable to allow a considerable movement of the piston in order to provide for greater or less varia tions of expansion in the system. In order to do this I make the cylinder 12 as long as may be desired, as indicated in Fig. 2, and provide a slidable or lost motion connection between the rod and the lever. This may be conveniently done by slotting the upper end of the rod 14 to receive the lever 15, the lever normally resting in the bot-.

tom of the slot. The upwardly extending end of the rod 14 passes through an arm 21 extending inwardly from the guide 20 and is provided above this arm with an adjustable collar 22, whereby the downward movement of the piston and rod may beadjusted for any desired distance. The lever 15 preferably extends both ways from the pivot 16 and is provided with an adjustable weight 23 which tends to swing the right hand end, as shown in Fig. 2, downwardly. The lever 15 is connected in any suitable manner with the dampers or fire controlling device of the furnace for regulating the fire under the boiler. For instance, as shown in Fig. 1, one end of the lever 15 is level in the expansion tank 9, thereby tendconnected by means of a chain 24: with the damper 25, while the other end is connected by means of a chain 26 with the cold a1r check 27.

In order that the engineer or other attendant may be notified when the system has become heated above a certain point or has cooled below a certain point, I arrange means whereby a bell or other signal may be caused to sound when the lever 15 swings upwardly or downwardly beyond certain points. simple form of such arrangement comprises a contact 28 which is adjustably secured to the arm 15 so that it may be turned, or moved along the arm, in order to make contact at an earlier or later time. The lower end of this contact is adapted to engage with a terminal or contact member 29 which is connected by means of a wire 30 with one terminal of a bell 31. The upper end of the contact 28 is adapted to make contact with a terminal or contact member 32 which is connected by means of a wire 33 to the wire 30. The contact 28 is connected by means of a wire 34 with .one terminal of a battery 35, the other terminal of this battery being connected by means of a. wire 36 with the second terminal of the bell 31.

The operation of the apparatus will be readily understood by those familiar with the construction and control of heating systems. Assuming that the system is properly filled with water and fire is started under the boiler, then the expansion of the water in the system will gradually raise its ing to force the air out and down through the pipe 11 to the cylinder 12. The compression of the air in this cylinder tends to raise the piston 13 against the resistance of the weight 23. It is generally understood that it is desirable for a number of reasons to increase the pressure in a hotwater heating system above: atmospherim pressure. This, of course, permits the water to be heated to a greater degree and is also believed to increase the circulation in the system. It will be readily observed that by adjusting the weight 23 and properly proportioning the parts, any desired degree of pressure may be provided for the system. As soon as the pressure becomes sufiicient to raise the piston 13, the lever 15 is swung upwardly at one end while the other is lowered. \Viththese ends connected with the damper 25 and cold air check 27, the damper will be closed and the check opened as shown in full lines in this drawing. This will im-.

the draft through the furnace and increasing the fire until the system is again heated enough to cause the pressure to raise the piston 13 when the fire controlling devices will again be properly regulated. It is apparent that such action will be gradual and, therefore, a nice regulation of the fire is provided. It is obvious that the lever 15 or the piston rod 14 might be connected to other fire regulating devices, the ones shown being used to typify such devices in general. If for any reason the pressure in the system becomes excessive the piston 13 moves up beyond a seriesof holes 37 in the cylinder 12 which permits the escape of air or other fluid out from the cylinder. 2

' While I prefer to have the apparatus operated by means of air, yet it may be operated by the water or other fluid, but if water .passes over from the tank 9 into the cylinder 12 I provide a drip-cock 38 so that the water may be drawn off.

Where there is a considerable variation of volume of air caused by the expansion and contraction of the water in the system the cylinder 12 may be elongated and enlarged to take care of such expansion, and the piston 13 allowed a considerable range of movement, In such case the lost-motion connection with the lever 15, as shown in Fig. 2, allows the piston to move for a considerable distance without moving the lever. In' such case, after it has been determined what amount of movement of the piston is desirable to take care of the normal expansion and contraction of the system, the collar 22 may be set so as 'to limit the downward movement of the piston. In this case the iston will rise until the bottom of the. slot in the rod 14 strikes the lever and causes it to rise. If the pressure becomes excessive, the piston will be raised above the holes 37 and air may be exhausted from the system. Then as the system cools off the piston 13 will move downwardly until the lever 15 is moved to its full extent for operating the fire regulating devices and may still continue to move downwardly to take care of the contraction in the system until the collar 22 strikes the arm 21. The downward movement of the piston is then stopped and if there is a further contraction in the system and a tendency toward the formation of a vacuum, air will be drawn in past the piston until the pressure in the system approximates that of the atmosphere. The piston may be provided with a valve for this purpose, but as ordinarily constructed will act similar to an intake valve. It will be particularly noted that with a closed system in which the water, as well as the inclosed air, is at substantially all times normally subjected to pressure, there will be no evaporation or loss of water from the system. In practice I make the cylinder 12 sufiiciently large so that the movement of the piston therein will be suflicient to care for all of the normal expansion and contraction of the water in the system and the piston will, under normal conditions never be raised a sufficient amount to allow the escape of any air from the system. When the lever 15 moves up ordown until the contact 28 touches either the contact 32 or the contact 29, a circuit will be closed from the battery 3:; to the bell 31, thereby causing the bell to ring and notify the operator of the condition of the fire.

Having thus described my invention, which however, I do not wish to limit to the exact details of construction or arrangement of parts herein shown and described except as specified in the appended claims, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: I

1. A pressure and relief device for a hot water heating system comprising a cylinder having its lower end adapted to be connected with the system, a piston in said cylinder, a piston rod extending outwardly from said piston and having its upper ends slotted, a lever pivotally mounted above said piston and extending through the slot in said rod and adapted to be raised by the rod when the piston moves upwardly a predetermined distance, the cylinder being provided with outlet apertures to permit the .escape of fluid when the piston passes beyond them, an adjustable weight on said lever for regulating the pressure in the cylinder, and 2111' adjustable stop for regulating the downward movement of the piston,

the arrangement being such that a predetermined pressure .may be maintained in the system and fiuid may pass from the system outwardly through said apertures and may again return to the system by being drawn inwardly past the piston.

2. The combination with a heating system having an air chamber at the top thereof, of a pipe leading from said chamber, a cylinder connected with said pipe, a piston in said cylinder adapted to be raised by the pressure of the air from the system and also adapted to permit the return of air past the same into the system and means operated by said piston for regulating the fire for heating the system.

3. The combination with a closed hot water heating system having'an air chamber at the top thereof, of a pipe leading from said air chamber, a cylinder with which said pipe is connected, a piston in said cylinder, said cylinder being sutficiently large so that the movement of the piston will provide for the normal expansion and contraction of the water in the system, a rod connected with said piston, a lever for operating fire regulating devices of a furnace, a loose motion connection between said rod and lever, and an adjustable stop for limiting the downward movement of the piston, the arrangement being such that the system will be",

normally closed at all times and the piston will have a limited range of movement before operating the regulating lever.

4. The combination witha closed hot water heating system, of an air pipe leading from an air chamber at the upper part of the system, a cylinder with which said pipe is connected, a piston in said cylinder actuated by the pressure of the air in the system, said cylinder being large enough to permit the movement of the piston therein to accommodate the normal expansion and contraction of the water and'air in the system without permitting any fluid to escape therefrom, a piston rod extending from said piston and having its upper end slotted, a lever pivotally mounted above the piston and extending through the slot in said rod and adapted to be raised by the rod when the piston moves upwardly a predetermined distance, said slot being sufficiently long to permit such predetermined movement of the piston before the lever is actuated, an adjustable weight on said lever, an adjustable stop for regulating the downward movement of the piston, and means operated by said lever for controlling the fire.

IRENE FORREST, Axa'roi. GoLLos. 

